me, posing with my backwards book. lol.

Wooooooooooooooo! I FINALLY got a copy of the book! None of the bookstores near me had it at all and I debated buying the Australian version (I like that cover better) but I decided paying a bunch more money simply for a different cover was silly. So then I decided to just buy it on amazon because I needed another item for free shipping. Then my order gets cancelled because the credit card I have on my amazon account was canceled (I use my dads and he got a new card because he lost the old one blahblah) sooo I had to order it again. And pay shipping because I just got the book this time . 

But yay! I’m so happy it came! I’ve been feeling more on the shitty side recently (long story short- I was totally crushing on some random guy who’s really nice to me at work and he’s new blahblah turns out he’s got a girlfriend. I work at a Target and we like to joke about finding a Target romance and such. -(Oh! Random side story: A few weeks ago I saw Kate and Alexis Gosslin when I was working (my Target is in PA) and SERVED THEM POPCORN!!! ZOMG! lol. I was totally shaking when I was scoping the popcorn into the bag- I am such a nerd. And my friend who works at Target was her cashier! Much spazzing ensued.)- Low self esteem and depressing feelings ensued after finding out and it sucked ass. To me it was an “It Figures” kind of moment. But I’ve been reading my book now and it’s really helping me to feel better. Especially the chapter about “Finding a good partner”. Obviously relevant to my young single self. And the fact that I happen to have it in my head that no one will ever find me attractive IRL because I’m fat. That does seem to be the one thing I can’t get over very well. And honestly I probably won’t get over it completely until I do find someone… *le sigh* I will probably re-read that chapter a lot.)

ANYWHO! 

Starting to feel better, like I said in the last paragraph shitty-ness ensued and I’m glad it’s going away. It also helped that I went to Hersheypark yesterday with my mom and uncle and cousin. That was fun. (haha another fun random fact: My uncle is Coco the Bear- he skates on the ice during Hershey Beat games and we got free tickets the one game we went to, which is why we went to the park today)…. (sorry if you aren’t from PA lol, a lot of PA-ness going on in this post). But I had fun, which lifted my spirits a bit. 

And in one week I’m leaving for a two week vacation in South Carolina (Hilton Head Island). Woooot! Vacation is much needed, since this summer I’m actually working a lot. I’m really looking foreward to going to the pool and being able to walk to the beach (they have really cute bicycle paths down there!) and taking some beach pictures! woot! It’ll just be nice to have a break.

Okay, well posting two days in a row is a lot for me, so hopefully these posts measure up lol. Hope everyone is doing well .

Now it’s time to get back to my reading lol! Even if it has taken my about two months after everyone else to get to read this.

(p.s. Kate and Marianne, you girls are amazing! I guess I’ll just say Thanks )

Well, so much for my plan of writing something every day… I was never sure what to write about and then we had computer troubles for a week or so and I couldn’t go online at all .. So now I’m here not sure what to write about. I don’t know why, but before I used to get really pissed off at things that were of the anti-fat nature, and now I just make an exasperated noise and avoid said things. Like if I’m watching TV and diet commercial comes on, I just change the channel. While I know on some level it does piss me off quite a bit, I’ve seen so many of the same thing I just don’t know what to do about it other than to not listen to it, because I don’t have to listen to bullshit. I feel the same way about trolls and/or douchebags who leave their douchebaggerish comments on my blog. I just can’t bring myself to care anymore if another person is telling me how “fat and lazy and ugly” I am. But same goes for the comments, on some level they just piss me off (and if I were to be having a bad body image day, I’m sure they could do worse than pissing me off). So recently I’ve just been marking troll comments as what they really are- spam. 

But for old time’s sake, let’s take a look at some recent comments:

From lovely named Anon Y. Mous (seriously, suchhhhh and original and clever name!)

this is gross
i think i threw up alittle
im chubby wweighing 130 but i would never ever wear a bikini if i looked like you
LOSE WEIGHT FAT LARD

blahblahblah, you’re not the first person who “thinks they threw up a little”. Seems to happen all the time. I might as well provide free buckets for everyone! WOO! And please, I would love for you to project your feelings about yourself on to me some more! WOO! Not to mention your instructions for doing what you suggest are so motivating! Really, everything will be perfect if I just lose weight? Like I haven’t had that “suggested” to me a million fucking times before? Oh Anon Y. Mous, you are so motivating to me! After you called me a fat lard and threw up in your mouth it really motivated me because I want to please you oh Anon Y. Mous one.

you don’t look obese at all, just curvey!
you are reallllly pretty and your smile is adorable!

Now this comment is nothing like the first one, but I still have problems with it. The fact of the matter is that I AM obese. The reason you don’t think I look it is because BMI is so fucked up (please, see here) and the only time you see fat people on TV is when they show specials about “1 ton mom” or something similar. This comment really is not that bad, but I feel the need to clarify. I get so many comments on this post about how “you’re not obese! just curvy” nature that I felt the need to address it. So I am. I AM OBESE. That’s how the fucked up system labels me- it’s a fact. I feel like if people are ever going to recognize how fucked up BMI is, they have to accept the way it categorizes people in order to accept it’s fucked-up-ness. 

Okay, one more for now.

this is the first time i have visited your website – i am 31 years old and looking at you, i do not see “fat” – i see pretty, stylish and from reading, smart and articulate.

This comment is more along the lines of the comment above- it’s not outright insulting, but it is insulting. The comment is basically saying that “fat” does not or cannot equal pretty and stylish- as though it were an impossibility. The “fat” most people see is the fat always potrayed- the slobby, unattractive, stupid, and always eating stereotype. That’s not what “fat” is. And it isn’t an impossibility to be both fat and stylish or pretty or whatever (not that you have to be pretty to be a worthwhile person in this society or anything…). I am “fat”, and I am also stylin’ and smart . I think they fit together perfectly fine.

….

fat. Fat. FAT.fAt. FAt. FATTTTTTTTT! There I said it six times and six different ways! (Hope you didn’t throw up again Anon Y. Mous!)

And on a final note, here is the beautiful and elegant FAT statue on my college campus. I took this picture when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. I will always love my college for having this statue- it makes me smile every time I see it.

So, I feel like this blog needed to be freshened up a little bit, so I decided to change the layout, header- the works. lol. I slept over with two of my best friends a few days ago and we decided to have a photoshoot. I used two of those photos from that for the new header, which I really like. I haven’t used a blue theme yet, even though I love the green, I am really happy with this. Blue is very calming and such lol. I like the change. Anywho, here are some of the other pictures taken, just if anyone is interested.

I put all of the pictures of me up on my deviantart account: www.lovemeformexox.deviantart.com

I’m thinking I might start posting one picture every day. I’ll run out of pictures eventually, and probably won’t actually post one every single day, but it seems like a good idea. I’d say I’m more into photography than writing, so it also seems like a way for me to have something to post.

In any case, I feel like this is a good start to get back on the blogging brain. I probably would’ve updated sooner other than the fact that I’ve been reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels like mad for the past week. lol.

Other than that, right now I don’t have much to talk about. So I think I’ll just leave it at that. Hope everyone likes the new layout And thanks so much for all the support, it really helps so much to have it.

I feel the need to apologize yet again for never updating. Or writing. Or even posting a damn picture or something. I feel like I honestly haven’t blogged about anything really important for months. Sometimes I feel like I should just give it up- not like I’ve done anything important for awhile now anyway.

I hate sounding so down- I guess it’s just been a couple of bad weeks for my self-image. I got home from school and I just felt nasty diet thoughts creeping into my head. I started thinking up one of those thin fantasies, about how much better my life and myself would be if I were thin. It lasted longer than it normally does. It was like the old me was back saying “you can do it” and all that shit. I even dug out the only diet book I still have (I don’t know why I can’t seem to throw it away). I even watched Celebrity Fit Club… I don’t know why my brain decided to regress so much. I feel like I’m coming out of it now, but I’m still not sure.

It doesn’t help that now that I’m at home I don’t read blogs as much. I just never feel like it here. I’m working a lot more now too, so I like to relax in the day before I have to go to work. So I tend to watch TV or read a book. I guess it doesn’t help that I just don’t feel as confident as a I did before… I tried on the same bikini I had from last year and I just wasn’t feeling it like I did before. I know I’ve gained maybe 10 lbs or so in the past year- I dunno if that’s it or what. I just didn’t feel comfortable in it. That really didn’t help my self esteem. (On the positive side, I bought new two piece tankini things at Target and they are really cute, and I really like them and feel more comfy in them. I’ll post pictures once I take some). I just feel like I’m letting other people and myself down with that.

I also kinda hate that this blog is pretty much just me rambling about myself. I mean, I guess that’s okay, but I feel selfish for it (and also kind of wonder why people would want to read my wandering thoughts). I guess I feel kinda like a gimmick- the blogger who’s fat and a teenager. Like, if it weren’t for that fact that I’m a teenager no one would care. I know this blog will never be anything super amazing or anything, because I’m not an amazing writer, and I don’t have the time or energy to make it such.  Not to mention I’m not that good at networking. Hell, I’m not good even at replying to comments. I’m the kind of person who writes and then like comments but never knows what to say to them.

.. So anyway, I feel I’ve blathered on enough. Bottom line is I havn’t been feeling great lately about my body and my blogging, but I’m starting to feel better, and I want to write more. I guess I just don’t know how to go about it, because there are so many others who do it so much better than me… I also still haven’t gotten around to buying Lessons from the Fatosphere (I looked up the version I like, but I can’t justify spending a lot more just for the cover/title I prefer)- the Barnes and Nobles I go to doesn’t have it, but I want to check Borders soon.

In any case, I’m not giving up yet. And as for my scholarly life, I got a 4.0! So there’s a plus I suppose … If anyone is still reading this..

… I’ve just been very busy.

This semester has been sooo much work (much more than I thought it would be and definitely more than I had at my previous school)- and I’ve also had to do a lot of writing for classes, which doesn’t really leave one wanting to write extra on the side. 

But I have finished my Gender Studies project (FINALLY!) and once I get it back I’ll take pictures to put up here for everyone to see. I am done with my Sociology and A&PII lab finals, so I’m nearly done. I’ve got another week and 5 days. 

Once I am back home I’m hoping to actually be writing and keeping up with blogs and the Fatosphere more- I feel so out of the loop (but I just don’t have the time to keep up).

… And YAYYYYYYYYY Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby’s book!! I’m so excited. Hopefully I’ll actually have some money and will be able to buy it (though probably not right away .. I need to wait till I get back home lol).. Though I have to say I wish the original title would’ve been kept- “Screw Inner Beauty” sounds much catchier and I like the whole defiance aspect of it.

I apologize once mow (How many times I have done that recently? A lot). Updating my blog only twice a month is sad, even for a busy college student. Hopefully I’ll learn some more time management skillzzz and be able to handle it better in the future.

Well anywho, I’m not quite done with classes yet, and need to be off!

Okay- I know this is a little off topic, but I figured I would ask. I actually decided on my topic for my Gender Studies research, and after talking to my professor, I decided to go with the “gender roles in animation” topic. And I thought I would put that together with the ‘zine’ idea, make like a 20 page magazine, each page analyzing a different movie- something like that (we’ll see how it comes out). I’ve already picked out my movies I’m going to watch and critique: 

- Mulan, Nausiccaa, Princess Mononoke, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Sailor Moon, The Incredibles, Sinbad, Beauty & the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Princess, Aladdin, Tarzan, Snow White, Little Mermaid

(Since I want to stay more with movies- because it’s annoying to have to say movies/tv shows all the time- that I’ll critique the last four episodes of Avatar (since it was kinda marketed as a movie finale event type thing) and do one of the Sailor Moon movies. This way I can review it as a movie but maybe sprinkle in some other events that I recall that were significant with regards to gender. For Avatar that would definitely be in season 1 with Katara challenging the gender roles, but I can’t really remember any sailor moon ones off my head) 

So anyway, my question is how to go about critiquing these films?

I was planning on counting the # of female characters, and from those number count how many end up with a male lead/are not alone at the end, how many of them display traditionally feminine characteristics, how many display traditionally male characteristics, and if any of them display more androgyny- that type of thing. And do the same for the males. Then at the end add up all numbers on a final page and stuff. On each individual page for the movies, after the individual stats, summarize key points about each characters/analyze them that type of thing… Maybe apply the Bechdel test and see if any of the films pass it.

Or if anyone has any other suggestions with the overall project/different films to consider?

I am really limited with time (It’s due April 22- so like 2 weeks to get it all done) otherwise I would try to do a wider range of movies. But I tried to do some that weren’t Disney, and Incredibles for non 2D animation. And I’m mostly going with movies that I have/have seen (like, I’ve never seen Atlantis nor have the movie and don’t know much about the characters/roles in the movie).

If anyone does have any suggestions, let me know and I can see if there’s anyway I can access the movie, and maybe suggest which film I could switch it with (I’ve already planned out when I am watching each movie lol- I seriously have to budget my time).

But all in all, I’m really happy that I’ve found a way to incorporate my Avatar love into a project- while it may not be all Avatar, it still is fun. I know this project’s research isn’t super “hard-core” or anything (it’s just analyzing cartoons) and I hope I don’t fail because it isn’t what my professor is looking for or that maybe she wants it presented in more of a researching way (I just want to analyze the films using what we learned about Gender Roles in the course, not really look up others critiques- thought I will probably do that anyway)… But I hope everything will turn out okay with this.

So yeahhhh- any suggestions let me know I’m going to do my first film critique tomorrow (given that I can create a standard sheet to use for each film to write my notes down and stuff)…. Gahhhh I really hope this turns out okay.

Thanks again for all the suggestions before- they really did help.

And I swear once this semester is over with and I’m back at home with nothing to do for three months I will try and get back to blogging on topic- I feel like such a bad blogger! And the fact that people actually do read my blog and I let them down by not writing in it pisses me off (at myself). I’m lucky enough to have people who want to hear what I have to say, and I’m pretty much just telling them to eff off by not writing here enough. 

37 days to go… 37 days to go…

eff you. Majority of your commercials are all about loosing weight, and your TV shows aren’t much better.

Jeans should be skinny. Wallets should be fat. (From Bally commercial)

… wow. Thanks for letting me know exactly what’s wrong with this country Bally- our bodies should be small but we should be fat and rich when it comes to money. Money money money. That’s what it really is all about.

Find out what’s making you fat. (TV show)

I don’t see how this special would be eye opening or really revealing in any way. Honestly, I could dispell 10 dieting myths without much effort- I’m betting most people could. The usual eat less, exercise more will probably be the great ‘knowledge’ that we all need to know to lose weight. I like how someone can assume to know what’s making every different person fat too… I’m sure some people are fat because of what foods they eat, or how much they exercise, but there are just as many for whom that is not an issue (plus, what about the thin people who have the same habits but are thin? Obvs they are healthy so it doesn’t matter for them!)

I know Discovery Health really isn’t the most fat friendly of channels, but dammit I love watching Mystery Diagnosis and Diagnosis X and Trauma in the ER and those type of show (not so much all the baby shows and lose weight NOW type shows.. blegh)..

Seeing these commercials and TV programs really just makes me want to hurl the TV out my dorm window, but I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t be appreciated…

It doesn’t help that lately I hadn’t been feeling too hot about myself… I feel like I started slipping back into the Fantasy, the idea that I could control my body and make it just a little bit smaller and just lose a little bit of weight (I went so far as to download a Weight-loss application to my iTouch. Thankfully it was free and I have since deleted it). Mostly I feel like lately it’s because I don’t think I’m attractive. I hate that I think that, but I do. I mean, it’s one thing to have people online say positive comments, but it’s another thing IRL. I guess I could say that all I really want when it comes to this is for someone to ask me out, to say that they want me.  It’s so hard to feel attractive when you don’t have a significant other person backing you up and reinforcing it. I hate that I think that, because right now I honestly think I need to focus on myself, and it would be too stressful to have to deal with a boyfriend right now anyway… I don’t know if it’s hormones or what. Like, I can’t get thinking about sex out of my head, and I haven’t even had it yet. Sometimes I feel like something’s wrong with me because I haven’t yet, when so many others have… Honestly, I feel a little bit weird talking about that on my blog (maybe some day I won’t care at all, but I guess it’s just weird right now)… but I just feel like I need to rant about it a little bit. I know I’m probably not the only person who feels like this…

So today I’ve been looking at pictures on Adipositivity to help me feel better. And it has helped a little.

But ANYWHO..

I feel like I need to apologize like a bazillion times for not updating this blog enough. Over spring break I tend to stay away from the computer because I can’t go online with my laptop, and I can’t stand using my dial up computer now (it’s too painful lol)… And every day I’m at school I feel like I never have enough time in the day. I feel like a bad blogger for not… well, blogging. lol. Or for paying enough attention to my contact page… Agian, being at school I feel like I always have something to do, and in my free time I’d rather relax than worry about my blog. But then I feel bad for not updating my blog… blargh… During the summer I will force myself to use our home computer and update a little more often, and maybe go to my library, which has WiFi. Next semester I’m thinking my workload will be a little bit lighter. I hope.

Okay, well this was a crappy ass post, I hope everyone is doing well.

(Oh, and I think I know what I want to do for my Gender Studies project. It’s actually neither of what I thought about doing, though kind of related I guess. I’m thinking about doing it on gender roles in Japan, maybe talk about the history of the culture, and how it is today, etc… I mean, that is a topic I would be interested in, and when I type in “gender roles in Japan” in google, articles specifically on that come up, so hopefully it won’t be too hard to research. I guess I’ll do the paper on it.. Though the idea of doing a zine sounded really interesting Katriona… That would let me do graphic stuff, which I love to do.. I don’t know if that would work with the Japanese & gender topic, but I guess it could.. I don’t really know too much about doing a zine though… Blargh I dunno what i want to do now lol… I think we are going to talk about it on Wednesday, so I have a little bit of time)

Oh yeah, that reminds me! Next wednesday we are doing “Body Image” discussion in my Gender Studies class. I have already talked to my professor about it, saying how I was “pumped” for it (lol I’m such a weirdo).. I had sent her a bunch of links in an email before (mostly links to feminist blogs I read- oh, and links to Sarah Haskins lol), and one of the links I sent was Kate Harding’s illustrated BMI slideshow. I mentioned it again, and she said I could bring it up in class and show it. But if anyone has an points that I should definitely keep in mind to bring up, feel free to leave them in comments.

Okay, I really am done now. For reals.

Wow, I am really sorry for not updating my blog in forever, or getting back to anyone that wanted to talk to me, etc…. I’ve just been very, very busy at my new school. There is a lot more effort and work to do here, whereas my other school it was mostly all multiple choice tests. Here I actually have to write papers and stuff (OMGZ! lol!)

So, that’s where my post comes in. I know this is more relevant to my college blog, but I feel it crosses in with this one as well.

I’m taking Gender Studies this semester, and for the class we need to do a research project… and it’s worth 25% of our grade. Now we have two weeks to think of some choices. It doesn’t have to be a research paper (she said if it were it would be like 20 pages long… HELLZ NO!) – it can be a movie, interviews, posters, book, etc.. She said she is very open to ideas. 

Some of my ideas? Well, she said to do it on something you are good at/interested in- so like if you are good at movies do that. Well, I’m mostly good at: drawing, blogging, taking pictures… And since I blog about fat acceptance, I’m trying to think of ways to incorporate that… I just don’t know how.

But I have also been debating on the subject of women in animation. Like analyzing Snow White, Mulan, Avatar: the last airbender (maybe I’m just looking for a way to use Avatar, because I LOVE it and it has amazing female characters)…. Hell, if i could do a whole project on Avatar I totally would. I just doubt the seriousness of it to analyze animated characters (if that makes sense?)… I mean, hell, if the research paper would need to be 20 pages, it seems unequal to do a trifold poster about women in Avatar or something…. I don’t know!! I mean, I think I will ask her about it on Friday in my Writing Class, so I can get a better idea.

Soo I ‘m pretty much going forth between Analysis of Female Animated Characters (or in Avatar, if I could get enough information on that, or if it would be a good topic.. I dunno).. OR if I want to do something with Women and Body Image type thing…. I really don’t know.. If I went with the interview route I was thinking maybe I could interview Fat Acceptance bloggers and do something with that… but I don’t know if that would work (I don’t think I’m very good at interviewing people lol)

That’s why I thought I would ask for everyone’s input, because I am in desperate need of ideas lol. Or at least some input on the ideas I already have.

 

…. Not to mention I needed something to blog about lol.

(should I promise that once the semester is over I’ll try and get back to actually blogging- and hopefully during this next week I’ll get into contact with people who have asked me questions and stuff )

I’m just busy with college and Sersly. Freaking. Out.

Just so everyone knows I’m not dead or anything.

Soooo for my College Writing class we had to write an Op-Ed as an assignment. She said we could write about anything, and since I’m never great at deciding on a topic I figured I would do what I do best (and write about most). I searched around on blogs to find a topic that was interesting and could get me going, and settled on this post at Junkfood Science, about how children in Australia are being policed by teachers and stuff. 

Now, myself being a procrastinating college student, held off writing this until… well, now. So I wish I would’ve done it earlier as to have any tips/advice about the writing- or what I could word differently or something (Teachers always say to have peers read it and give opinions on it and such).. But sadly, I’m handing it in tomorrow, sooooo if there is something in it written very terribly, well, don’t tell me lol because there isn’t anything I can do about it and it’ll just make me freak out about the paper, since it is due tomorrow at 10 AM. So, feel free to read it anyway. I haven’t ever written an Op Ed before (hell, I didn’t even know what they were before) so I hope it isn’t too awful and I hope it reads like an Op Ed should (she gave us like 4 examples, but I still dunno if mine fits okay)…. Sooo yeah, here it is lol.

(of course, if anyone reads this before midnight tonight- I’ll probably still be awake by then- feel free to leave any tips, since I’ll have time to edit it until then)

—–

Attack of the Lunch Police

Packing your own lunch shouldn’t be a crime, and it definitely shouldn’t be the governments job to decide what you can and cannot pack. But for schools in Australia this is what the future holds. Principles in Australian schools want to give teachers the authority and power to “police so they can confiscate chips, chocolates and sugary sweets to ensure children are healthy” according to the Herald Sun. This is wrong on so many levels. When did it become okay for schools to choose what is best for the students? It should be the parents’ job, not the schools’ or the governments’ or anyone else’s, to decide what is best for their child. The idea of having schools regulate children’s food intake seems like a scary movie, but it is all too real. 

This  is along the lines of having schools send home BMI report cards to children and parents. Or how in Japan a national law was passed that requires that companies and local governments measure peoples waistlines. When did the government become so involved with our bodies? What gives them the right to decide and make our choices for us? How can we be free when we can’t even decide for ourselves what foods we choose to eat?

For that matter, why is Body Mass Index (BMI) seen as such an accurate measure of one’s health? BMI was created in 1835- 174 years ago- around the same time Phrenology was accepted as highly scientific. So basically a few people got together and decided what weight was acceptable for what height, using some formula they created, and we have stuck with it ever since. We base an individual’s health, along with so many other factors, on this number. It is also not often mentioned that in 1998 the government changed the cut off numbers for BMI, which made 30 million Americans go from “healthy” to “overweight” overnight- something many reports that talk about how obese people are getting fail to mention). Many reports and studies also fail to mention that they are receiving funding from diet companies, pharmaceuticals, and other donors- all who make money off of people believing they need to lose weight. Because it’s all about health!

Healthy eating is of course a big proponent of living a longer, healthier life. I’m not arguing that eating nutritious food is a bad thing, nor am I advocating to simply eat foods that are considering to be non-nutritious until you feel sick. Schools that provide healthy food options are doing no wrong. Schools that offer apples along with cookies are not the devil incarnate. They are simply offering a choice. That is all they should be doing. It is when they decide what is the only acceptable food is when things become ridiculous. Or in the case of Australian schools, policing what children brought from home- which was not even food from the school. We have come so far as to not allow children to take a piece of birthday cake to school on their special day- because it’s not “healthy”.

A nice summary of the problems with these techniques of sending home BMI reports or policing lunch boxes is summed up nicely by this quote from a Newswise Medical News study about how overweight teens have same eating disorders as thin peers, “The data are striking – talking about weight, worrying too much about diet, focusing on it increases risk not only of eating disorders, but also of being overweight.”

Attaching morality to food does nothing but create a false sense of righteousness for eating foods that are “good” and feeling intense shame after eating foods that are “bad”. This also leads to extending those same feelings to individuals that are thought to exemplify them. We need to learn to balance. We need to listen to our bodies and do what is best for them, whether that means having some chocolate or having some fresh fruit, or going for a walk to the park, or taking some time off to relax from a busy and stressful day. We need to stop continually punishing and shaming them. We need to stop looking at food as a moral objective. What we eat does not make us a good or a bad person.

What is healthy or not should not be decided by the government or by anyone other than themselves. Health is a personal and individual matter and it needs to stay that way.